Not of Blood
by Guardian of Hope
Summary: Harry's fifth year is approaching and Harry isn't quite sure what he thinks of things. He's making new friends and learning a lot about himself, his family, and the Wizarding World along the way. Friendships will be strained and broken. The way of the world will be flipped upside down. The only thing Harry can count on will be that nothing is as it seems at Hogwarts. AU


**Disclaimer: I do not own any music mentioned in this story nor do I own Harry Potter.**

_A/N: In Harry Potter and Music's Magic, I proposed the idea of Wizard clans that was very elaborate but too elaborate for the other aspects of the story. I decided that I wanted to use it in a different setting. As it comes up, I'll explain the different words I'll end up using related to the Wizard clans. Also, there are five OCs introduced in this chapter. They'll appear in a few more chapters before moving to the background as a reference. They're here for two reasons. As this story is canon compliant up until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the first reason is to alter an early event in OOTP. The second is to give Harry the push he needs to get things going in this story. Things this story include: Slash, magical gifts, Alternate Universe Events, and original characters. (Seven big players and assorted minor ones). I'm American and I don't exactly have a Brit-picker to help me out with things. If I misuse some wording, feel free to let me know. My inspiration for the musical skills scene here is a group called Pentatonix. If you don't know them, get on YouTube and look at their channel, PTXOfficial. They're amazing._

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Number Four Privet Drive was a most unremarkable house in Little Whinging, Surrey. It was a good house, though. It rarely required maintenance, provided shelter for its inhabitants and never revealed the secrets contained in its walls. In short, it was the ideal house for anyone.

None of this could quite explain the angry glare directed at said house by its youngest inhabitant, a boy as remarkable as the house was not. From his gravity defying hair to his overly large and worn trainers, Harry James Potter was everything that did not belong at Number Four Privet Drive. Unless one counted the snowy owl in the smallest bedroom.

"What did that house ever do to you?"

Startled out of his litany of curses, Harry spun to find a girl about his age leaning against the sign for Privet Drive. She had curly brown hair pulled into a tail over her left ear, tight black pants and a huge white t-shirt with the Beatles printed on it.

"Sorry if I startled you," the girl continued with a friendly smile.

"It's all right," Harry said, half distracted by the sense of familiarity the girl's brown eyes invoked in his mind.

"I'm Lisa Miller," the girl said, "have you lived here long?"

"All my life," Harry replied, "I'm Harry Potter." How long had it been since Harry had needed to introduce himself anyway. Probably not since he was eleven.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lisa said, "I thought I knew everyone around here. Most of us go to Stonewall anyways."

Harry nodded, "I don't actually go to Stonewall, though. I go to a boarding school in Scotland."

"Huh," Lisa said, "I knew Dursley went to Smeltings along with Polkiss, but given how my mum talks about the Dursleys, I didn't think they paid for you to go school."

"They don't," Harry said, thinking fast. "My father's family has gone to the same school for generations. I was enrolled before I was born and money was entrusted for the tuition."

"Sounds pretty fancy," Lisa said. "What are you up to anyways, besides trying to set that house on fire?"

Harry jolted slightly, "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I just wanted to get away."

"Well, I'm headed to meet some friends of mine," Lisa said, stepping away from the sign, "you can come with me if you want."

Harry hesitated and looked down at his watch. Vernon would be home soon, and he would not be in a good mood even if Harry's chores were done. "Sure, why not?"

"Great," Lisa said and started away from Privet Drive.

"What are you and your friends planning to do?" Harry asked as they walked, "I don't exactly have a lot of money."

Lisa grinned, "You happen to be addressing a member of the Surry Under-Sixteen A Cappella champion group. My friends and I are getting together to do a little practice, discuss the arrangement for the next round of competition and probably watch a movie."

"I won't be in the way?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Not a chance," Lisa replied. "We were talking last week about having an audience again. It helps us work out the bugs to have someone listening. I'm just taking advantage of running into you." She hesitated and gave him a sly grin, "Besides, you could have set that poor house on fire if I hadn't of stepped in."

"Nah," Harry said, smiling back, "Number Four's tougher than that. I should warn you, I don't know much about music, what is a cappella anyways?"

"That's ok," Lisa said cheerfully, "we'll teach you. First lesson, a cappella is about singing only. You use your voice to create the music, no instrument. We might clap or snap, but everything else is vocal."

"Cool," Harry said, "it sounds difficult."

"It's a lot of fun," Lisa replied, "except for having to remix all of our favorite songs so we can sing them. You'll understand when you hear us though."

Lisa turned up the walk of one of the houses and led Harry around to the garden gate. Before she could unlatch the gate, it burst open and another girl burst out. "Lisa," the girl exclaimed and hugged Lisa tightly.

"Jeez, Mal, you saw me yesterday," Lisa said.

"Ha," Mal said, stepping back. "You owe me five pounds, by the way. You're late."

"I won't pay _your_ gambling debts, Mal," Lisa replied dryly. "Harry, this is Mallory, part of the group. Mal, this is Harry, I invited him to be our audience."

"Hi," Mal said and before Harry could react, she was hugging him too. "Call me Mal, everybody does. Aren't you the Dursely's other kid? You don't look like a Dursley. Is it true you go to St Brutus's Institute for Incurably Criminal Boys? Did you really climb the primary school like a jungle gym? Are you going to Stonewall now? Do you like to sing?"

"Whoa, Mal," Lisa said, pulling her friend back, "Calm down. Let's get in the garden before anyone else comes looking for us."

Harry followed Lisa and Mal into the back yard, where three boys were seated under an apple tree that was drooping in the heat wave. "Hey Lisa," one of the boys called, he had an odd accent that Harry couldn't quite place, but seemed familiar.

"Hey Chris," Lisa replied. "I brought us an audience," she added as they joined the others. "Harry, this is Otto, Tyler and Chris. Boys, this is Harry from over on Privet Drive. Now, I've been thinking about our choices for the next round and I think we'd be better served with something a little different. We've been hitting pretty hard with our early stuff, and I think picking something from the eighties might do a lot more for our chances than another Beatles song."

As one, the boys said, "Not that there's anything wrong with the Beatles."

Harry seated himself beside Lisa and watched them interact.

"Harry."

Harry jumped, surprised to find Lisa looking at him, "I'm sorry?" He said.

"I asked what you thought about Michael Jackson," Lisa said.

"I don't know much about him," Harry said. "Aunt Petunia doesn't care for that sort of music."

"You don't hear it at school?" One of the boys asked.

"No," Harry said, "my friends aren't big on music, actually. The team captain has a thing about radios, and it gets so loud in the common room, you wouldn't even notice if one was playing."

"That's a shame," the boy said, "I'm Otto, by the way. I'm the bass."

"I honestly don't know what that is," Harry admitted.

Otto grinned at him and took a deep breath. The sound that came out of his mouth, a simple "ah", was deeper than seemed possibly for a boy like him.

"Wow," Harry said.

"On that note," Lisa said, hesitating to let her friends groan, "We should start practicing. Let's start with Radio Star, then Come Together, and bring it home with Jack and Diane, just to see how it sounds. You can stay there, Harry," Lisa said as they all stood up.

The boy Harry thought must be Tyler stood to the front of the group with both girls just back on his left and the other two boys, Otto and Chris, on his right.

Chris winked at Harry, "One, two, three four," he said.

Whatever Harry had been expecting, the sounds that came out of the group was not it. He had always liked music, but between the Dursleys' dislike of most music, and the lack of variety on the Wizarding Wireless, Harry didn't get to listen to it much. This was so much more than the music he remembered hearing at the primary school.

He didn't recognize the song, but he could admire the talent and hard work behind it. Especially when Chris started letting go. Harry had heard beatboxing a few times, but it wasn't something that the students of Hogwarts concerned themselves with on a normal basis. The few examples of beat boxing he's heard, usually when Dudley's friends thought they were being clever, paled in comparison to what Chris was doing.

When it was over and they started the next one, Harry did recognize it. His aunt rarely listened to music, but she did like the Beatles, so he had heard this one on the radio every now and then. Usually when Vernon had taken Dudley somewhere and she wasn't going somewhere or having the ladies over for tea. This version wasn't what he remembered, but he did enjoy it, perhaps even more than Petunia's old record.

This time, Harry was cognizant enough to clap a few times, only to be cut off as they started the last song, 'Jack and Diane'.

This song, like the others, was wonderful. It had a different pace to it, and now Harry really noticed Otto's contributions. When he and Chris brought it home midway through the song, Harry laughed and clapped, because it was incredible. This was the sort of music he'd always wanted to hear.

When the songs finished, Harry clapped enthusiastically.

"I take it you liked it then," Chris said with a big grin.

"I did," Harry replied, "that was incredible. I wish my school had a music program now."

"Well, we could teach you a bit," Chris offered as they sat back down.

"I thought you had a competition coming up," Harry replied.

"Let's hear you sing, anyway," Lisa said.

Harry ducked his head, feeling his cheeks warm, "I don't know much about music."

"Well," Mal said, "do you know 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?"

"Who doesn't?" Harry asked, and then looked at Chris in surprise as he realized they said the same thing at the same time. The dark skinned teen smiled back at him.

"Let's hear it then," Lisa said, catching Harry's attention.

"Right," Harry said. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath.

"Wait," Chris said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You have to breathe right, silly," Mal said. "You breathe like that and you wouldn't make it through the first voice."

"How do I breathe then?" Harry asked, "Through my skin?"

They laughed. "No," Chris said, "with your diaphragm." He waved his hand at Lisa, "there are too many cooks in the kitchen, Lisa. Why don't you guys go see if my mom's got a snack trey together and get my keyboard. I'll show Harry how to breathe."

As the other four headed inside Chris shook his head, "They're good friends, but a little enthusiastic."

"If you say so," Harry replied. "May I ask where you are from?"

Chris laughed, "I'm from America, man. Now, when you sing, and really you should do this if you're at all athletic anyways, you don't breathe with your shoulders. There's a muscle between your lungs and stomach called the diaphragm, and you use that to regulate your breathing. Take another breath."

Harry did so.

"No, don't raise your shoulders," Chris said, he pressed on Harry's shoulder, "you want your belly to expand when you breathe. It's important, but it can be hard."

Harry took another breath, and this time he could feel his stomach expanding instead of his shoulders rising.

"Good job," Chris said. "The more you breathe that way, the better your breathing will be. You said you were on a team, what sport do you play?"

"Football," Harry said after a moment. "I'm a forward reserve."

"Football," Chris repeated, and shook his head, "In America we call it soccer. I'll try not to get it confused.

"Okay," Harry replied.

"Anyways, managing your breathing this way will make you better on the field too."

"All right," Lisa called as she emerged from the house carrying a long, black object. "Found the keyboard, and you need to clean your room. I think a bomb went off in there."

Chris laughed, "Nope, just a tornado."

Otto and Mal followed Lisa out with trays. "Your mother is an absolute Goddess," Otto announced as they approached. "This all looks delicious."

"My mother studied at the top culinary school in America," Chris replied, "Did you expect anything less than her best?"

"It's still amazing," Otto said.

Tyler finally came out of the house, "Sorry everyone," he said as he joined them.

"Now that we're all back, Harry," Lisa said as she handed out drinks, "let's hear it."

Harry blushed, closed his eyes, took a proper deep breath, and let himself sing. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."

"Wow," Lisa said, "ok."

Harry looked at her, "What, it didn't sound that horrible."

"No," Lisa shook her head, "you've got a good voice. I just wasn't expecting your voice to sound like that."

Harry blushed, "I know. I sound like a girl."

"No you don't," Chris said, "you've got a higher range than most men, but you do not sing like a girl." He looked at Lisa, "Why don't you guys pick what songs we're doing while I teach Harry more of the basics. You already know my votes on the subject."

"All right," Lisa said, she turned to the others, "let's move over here so we won't be disturbed."

"But the food," Otto said.

"Take the tray," Chris said. He leaned over, snatched a couple of sandwiches and offered one to Harry. "We shouldn't eat much if we're going to be doing any kind of singing."

Harry took the sandwich, thinking of Dudley's diet. "Thank you," he said.

"Not a problem," Chris replied, "I like music, and you've got a really nice voice. Get some training and you'll be amazing." He pulled the black and white keyboard that Lisa had brought out into his lap. "This is a keyboard," he told Harry, "I use it to make sure I'm singing on tune sometimes. We'll worry about that in a bit though. What we're going to start with are the basics. We'll cover reading music later, but for right now we'll just play a bit of follow the leader. I don't have the higher range you probably do, but we'll do well enough for now."

"All right," Harry said.

"What we're going to do is I'll play a note on the piano and sing it. You try to make your voice like mine." Chris tapped the keyboard, making a variety of noises come out of it. "This will also tell us how your ear is. That's as important as having a good voice, especially if you're going to be in a group like ours."

Harry smiled at him, "Maybe I will be."

"Then let's start," Chris said. "This is a C."


End file.
